Port-Au-Prince, Feb 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) An Idaho man said that the 10 American missionaries who were charged with kidnapping 33 children, have been detained in Haiti. The missionaries returned to jail on Friday, as they failed to successfully ask the judge to grant them provisional release, while their case is in court. Their lawyer revealed all these details. “They came to Haiti to help. They came in solidarity. It is scandalous that they are being detained,” he said.

It may be recalled that the Americans tried to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic, but they were not allowed to do so. Some of the Americans were also members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. However in their defense, the missionaries said that they were just trying to help the children, by aiding them to start life afresh. Central Valley’s pastor, Clint Henry, reinforced this point again on Monday, saying the group’s intentions were “upright and pure.” He said that the intention was just to go down and try to help the orphaned children.

The investigators said that the US missionaries didn’t have the necessary documentation, nor the permissions to take the children out of Haiti. If they are convicted and it remains to be seen what punishment they would get.